OK, you already know that at iContact we are pretty big on testing. A quick search on this blog will give you hints and tips about testing your entire email marketing strategy – everything from subject lines to frequency of sends and calls to actions. But testing doesn’t begin and end with email marketing. There are many other areas of your business that can benefit from the testing experience. Here are 8 ideas you might want to test to take your business to a new level.

Test Zones

International Markets: If you’ve reached a plateau in your local market, why not expand your horizons and look overseas in your search for new clients? For businesses located in the United States, the UK or Australian markets offer perhaps the easiest opportunities to expand globally in terms of language and business culture. Testing a new international market could be as easy as widening the reach of your paid search activities by selecting new geographies where your ads show. Localization (such as language or currency) can be rolled out once you have determined a demand in your new target country.

Marketplaces: Don’t restrict your routes to market. Online marketplaces like eBay, Etsy and Amazon offer valuable acquisition channels for retailers of all shapes and sizes. Remember, despite the relative ease of selling via an online marketplace, these are not cheap sales venues, and opportunities to re-market to customers found might be limited – but smart marketers always find a way.

Suppliers: It doesn’t matter how healthy your business is, if you rely on one major supplier for the majority of your business, and it goes out of business, you will quickly follow in its footsteps. Even the big boys can be taken down when a supplier fails. Learn from UK retailer Zavvi (formerly known as Virgin Megastores) and spread your risk by constantly testing new suppliers and product lines.

New Product Development: Websites like Alibaba.com can help you locate short-run and on-demand manufacturers, enabling you to bring new products to market without investing heavily in stock or warehousing, taking a great deal of risk out of new product development.

Pricing Strategies: Being perceived as too cheap can be as bad for business as being too expensive. Take your time to test various pricing strategies to understand which is the most profitable. Sometimes, adopting a fluid pricing strategy is the best option. Technology can help you find the right price at the right time depending on competition, availability and demand.

Shipping Partners: Shipping is the one area in business where an online retailer has the least control over its customers’ experience. A bad shipping experience may impact your reputation and result in negative feedback and expensive customer service issues. Because shipping is a competitive business, keep your shipping partners on their toes and force prices down by constantly testing new options.

Warehousing and Logistics: Don’t let the peaks and troughs of everyday business put a strain on your organization. Virtual warehousing solutions like Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) enable you to scale up or down without putting pressure on your in-house logistic resources. Services like FBA can be used to sell across multiple channels, not just Amazon.

Your Employees: Encourage your employees to share and test new ideas. Just because someone is not on the senior management team, does not mean he or she doesn’t have good ideas. Remember to reward your employees for their endeavours to encourage constant development. Freelance work exchanges like UpWork.com or PeoplePerHour.com can help provide additional resources to develop projects without adding to your payroll.

Testing is the only way your business can be sure it is maximizing its efforts to reach its customers with the right products at the right price and at the right time to drive profits. Remember, if you learn from the experience, a test can never fail.